Edit: As an update, we believe we've identified the issue and are still planning to release this patch today. We'll let you know if anything changes. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

When we initially released today's patch in the Americas, we encountered an issue affecting logins. As a result, we've reverted the patch so that we can investigate the cause and roll out a fix as soon as possible.

For now, we've also pulled the patch notes out of the launcher to prevent any more confusion about which patch is currently live. You can still play normally on version 31.1 while we work to address 31.2.

Thanks for your patience!

What's New?

Fenix and Tracer received nerfs in this update, while Chen and Kharazim have been buffed.

Sylvanas' Black Arrows trait has changed so that her abilities no longer disable Structures.

The change does not affect her Basic Attacks.

New functionality has been added to Falstad's Gathering Storm, Wingman & Updraft.

Developer Comment: Fenix has proven himself quite powerful, mainly due to his capability for consistent damage output. While we’re happy with how he plays, we’re making a few changes to bring his damage in line and address Talent imbalances.

Sylvanas

Stats

Basic Attack damage increased from 85 to 90.

Abilities

Black Arrows (Trait)

Abilities no longer disable Structures.

Developer Comment: As part of our ongoing quest to increase counter-play and curb frustration when playing against certain Heroes, we’re changing Sylvanas’ Black Arrows trait so that her Abilities no longer disable Structures. This effect is incredibly powerful and, in the past, has limited how Battlegrounds can be designed and played. We realize that turning off enemy Structures is an important part of Sylvanas’ identity, so rather than removing this functionality completely, we’re addressing it in such a way that she now has to put herself in danger to get maximum value. This should allow more counter-play for opponents when Sylvanas is pushing, and enable us to improve her teamfight capabilities, which we’re doing initially via a small Basic Attack damage buff. We’ll be keeping an eye on her performance, and are ready to make further tuning changes as needed.

Developer Comment: We’re making adjustments focused on the viability of some of Tyrael’s Talents. In particular, Sword of Justice was not picked very often, and was underperforming. We’re addressing this by taking a few Talents (Stalwart Angel, Burning Halo, and Smite the Wicked) and increasing their synergy with Sword of Justice by increasing the bonuses that Tyrael receives while El’druin is out, but reducing the bonuses for teleporting. This should enhance Sword of Justice’s playstyle, by allowing players to teleport into a fight, but still having an active El’druin’s.

Zarya

Stats

Health increased from 2225 to 2292.

Health Regeneration increased from 4.6406 to 4.7750.

Abilities

Particle Grenade (Q)

Damage increased from 71 to 75.

Graviton Surge (R)

Cooldown reduced from 80 to 60 seconds.

Bug Fixes

General

Fixed a pair of issues that could cause the game client to crash.

Art

Johanna: Learning Holy Renewal and casting Shield Glare while using one of Johanna’s Enforcer Skins no longer causes placeholder art to appear at her feet.

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents

Ana: After learning Grenade Calibration, Biotic Grenade’s floating combat text now displays the correct amount of Healing received with each tick.

Auriel: Bestow Hope’s buff and visual effects will no longer be removed if the target enters a Stasis effect, like Zagara’s Devouring Maw.

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Great, a lot of useful nerfs and buffs. I don't think it's enough in the case of Fenix or Chen, but it is definately a good start.

@IChronosl; Sylvanas can be broken in lower leagues and in QM, and in Unranked I tend to flat out ban her once the broken stuff has been adressed because no one can deal with her. Which is a problem, but it is also a L2P issue so I don't thjnk it's that severe.

However, a far bigger issue is that Sylvanas' Trait is stupidly oppressive from a map design perspective, so it needed to go. Heck, I'd go as far as to say it should have never existed in the first place.

This being said, I do agree it nerfs a character which isn't very good in the first place, so she probably needs a few buffs to compensate other than her AA damage.

Sure, Sylvanas will lose some of her uniqueness, but in exchange become an overall much more game-friendly character, if given a balance patch or two.

Edited April 11 by Aasgier

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It says that her *Abilities* no longer disable Structures. The way I read this her basic attacks still do, but none of her abilities, primarily her knife throw, will leak onto structures and disable them long enough for her to get into position. This means she'll be forced to get within shooting range if she wants to disable a structure, which if she's smart she'll go with a group of minions to take the hits for her.

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Sylvanas got change exactly because people at lower ranks tend to ignore her, while solo pushing doesn't work at higher ranks. At first, it's likely she is being nerfed, but as they said they will change it accordingly.

By the way, Chen buffs?

I immediately need to check how far can I push globe collection. He still needs actual survival increase through HP, but this works for now. By the way, I'm not sure does duration still increase per affected Hero for burn quest, or is it fixed 15 armor.

After reading, armor is 15 or more, for 3 seconds. Logical change, since 25 armor for adjustable 1s or more (but mostly 1s) does nothing.

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Arsenal Synergy damage buff for lvl 1 Fenix is downright confusing. It can already one-shot minion waves when damaging enemy heroes and make finishing blows on runners easy. But they did not change the truly most devastating part of Fenix, which his Warp resets. In fact, saying his continuous damage is what makes him OP and then leaving him the ability to keep pace with runners and be rewarded with an escape or chase reset is a little bit contradicting.

Tyreal seems to be going back and forth in stats for some reason.

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The thing with Sylvanas is that she's got decent damage and mobility, no sustain and is quite fragile. My default play style for her is as an aggressive bully quick to run away or doing hit-and-run pushing on structures. What really defined her is her trait, even if she had always had decent team fighting presence with her ults. While this nerf won't make that much of a difference, I hope they won't remove her stunning of structures completely, since it would really damage her uniqueness.

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This is actually a huge nerf to Sylvannas. She can't solo push against two towers now, she has to get in firing range before she can disable a fort, she loses a lot of damage that comes from buildings getting her DoT from spreading out of a minion wave, and so on and so on.

This wouldn't be a problem if her teamfight was good, but...it isn't. She generally can do her ult, and then is reduced to "squishy poker" with low/slow dps.

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I think the nerf to Sylvanas is due to edge cases where winning the first objective with Sylvanas in low-level games can potentially end the game right there. E.g., there was a BoE match where a teammate went Aba with enemy Sylvanas shown, and we got annihilated by the first immortal; it still had shields when it reached our core.

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In other news, Fenix has finally come back to the mortal plane, less played characters are getting buffs, other meta defining characters are being nerfed, Sylvanas's dagger can't push forts alone now and ALL SHALL SUFFER, PEASANTS!

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Meh. The Wail and Dagger still lets her lock down a bruiser camp until killed right from the start though? She should still be able to push hard on camp heavy maps early. While we're at it, we can remove that stupid mule from Abathur for something that fits his theme. Yuck!

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I'm assuming this was sarcasm and you're making a joke, right? Cause we all know the opposite is the truth.

There's an on-going joke on the HoTS subreddit where Chen is so OP that he needs constant nerfs and any nerfs make him more OP (at least my understanding of it). A line I've seen a lot before is "Oh look, X is OP right now, better nerf Chen". You are correct; we know he's quite sub-optimal right now ;-;

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There's an on-going joke on the HoTS subreddit where Chen is so OP that he needs constant nerfs and any nerfs make him more OP (at least my understanding of it). A line I've seen a lot before is "Oh look, X is OP right now, better nerf Chen". You are correct; we know he's quite sub-optimal right now ;-;

That joke originally came from Super Smash Bros. 4, where Nintendo released a plethora of patches that nerfed Greninja, and that joke "X is OP now, better nerf Y" came to life.

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It seems they buffed some half-tanks(Leoric,Dehaka) and nerfed some oppresive heroes(Tracer). On Fenix it seems they are lowering and spreading his damage over multiple talents. It is always good when you have multiple builds.

Regarding Sylvanas they apparently decided that its trait was too powerfull and reduced its power ONLY AGAINST STRUCTURES. So she still maintains the waveclear and merc clearing capacity.

On another topic, Chromie needs some serious nerfs to its damage/range/escape or at all three. It always forces you to play aggresively.

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On another topic, Chromie needs some serious nerfs to its damage/range/escape or at all three. It always forces you to play aggresively.

If they nerf Chromie she'll be a sitting duck. She has one of the highest learning curves of all the Mage characters alongside Kel'Thuzad. I think she is fine. A pro Chromie can carry the team and a bad Chromie is nothing more than a dead weight.

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What are they doing to Nova? ^^ Why did they nerf lethal decoy even more? Did anyone still play that build or Nova at all for that matter :)

And Tracer got hit again... And they reduced Hanzos mobility - yet somehow Genji remains untouched still :) I fear they might be overdoing the changes "because it can be frustrating to play against suchandsuch hero". I mean all those frustrating to play against heroes do have counters (read: a stun and a followup) as you have all discussed here concerning Sylvanas. So are they trying to Balance the game around QM? I may be wrong, but most of those heroes they keep hitting aren't played that much in ranked or at tournaments anyway... (apart from genji that is)

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If they nerf Chromie she'll be a sitting duck. She has one of the highest learning curves of all the Mage characters alongside Kel'Thuzad. I think she is fine. A pro Chromie can carry the team and a bad Chromie is nothing more than a dead weight.

A bad player is always bad, more or less. It might be that I have encountered a lot of good Chromies but was always dificult to reach her and moreso kill her. Afk is my advice for bad(and underline bad) Chromies, seriously; the A.I. has pinpoint accuracy with her and also leads her targets. I am not joking, the downside is that you might miss the exp in qm and sorts but in ranked IS an alternative.

Regarding Kel'Thuzad, I consider him having almost unavoidable damage and CC(except when dealing with Unstoppable) if used right(average use and above).

Here's a message from Production Director Kaéo Milker about the future of Heroes.
Yesterday, Blizzard announced there would be no officially supported Heroes Esports events in 2019, because the game apparently doesn't bring in the desired revenue. As a result, Heroes will be set up for long-term sustainability, resulting in less content and a decreased cadence.
Kaéo Milker, the game's Production Director, told the community in his latest message that an all-star team of developers are still going to develop the game and support it in the future. The team has a unique opportunity to rething things and reprioritize. They're still committed to regular Hero reworks, themed events, and new Heroes, because they want to keep the game dynamic and fun.
Blizzard (Source)
Yesterday, we announced a difficult decision—the HGC will not be returning in 2019 and we’ll be transitioning some Heroes of the Storm developers to our other game teams. While our extended Blizzard family working on World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Overwatch, and our unannounced projects will be getting an influx of much-needed, extremely talented Heroes devs to help them achieve their goals, it also means that we’ll need to change the cadence of support for Heroes going forward.
So, I’m sad. I’m sad because I love this team and this game that we’ve built together, with all of you, and this past year has been such a great one for Heroes of the Storm. The HGC had its best year yet and I was so looking forward to the 2019 season. On the game side, we’ve had a steady stream of some of the most sought-after heroes, amazing themed events, and impactful reworks. We also made meaningful progress on improving core systems and features across the game. We truly hit our stride in 2018, so I’m disappointed that some of the exciting plans we had for 2019 will have to change.
But all is not lost. The team that remains dedicated to Heroes of the Storm is a veritable Who’s Who of developers who have been driving every facet of the game from the very beginning—from people you know and have seen speak publicly about the game for years, to those who have poured their hearts into it from behind the scenes. In short, we’re continuing to develop the game with an incredible team that has the experience and passion required to support Heroes of the Storm well into the future.
The Heroes of the Storm team and I also have a unique opportunity to rethink things and reprioritize. Because now more than ever, our charge is to focus on taking care of you, our players, and to channel all our energy into keeping the game dynamic and fun. This means we’re still committed to regular hero reworks, themed events, and even new heroes. We’re setting our sights on the new goals and timelines for what we want to do with the game from here on out and we’re eager to share those plans as soon as they’re finalized.
So, I’m also excited. I’m excited for my teammates to bring their hard-won experience from making this game to the other teams at Blizzard to help their games be even better. And I’m especially excited for Heroes of the Storm to continue evolving with a renewed focus and purity of purpose.
Thank you for joining us on the journey so far, and please bear with us through these changes. Your feedback is as critical as ever, and continues to guide our priorities and decisions while helping us be better along the way.
Thank you,
Kaéo

Heroes Global Championship and Heroes of the Dorm will not return in 2019.
Update #1: Production Director Kaéo Milker today talked about the future of Heroes of the Storm.
Bad news for Heroes Esports. J. Allen Brack and Ray Gresko today announced that Blizzard's shifting developers from Heroes of the Storms to other projects. As a result, there will be no HGC or Heroes of the Dorm next year and we can expect less new content. They're setting up the game for long-term sustainability and they feel canceling the events is a "right decision versus moving forward in a way that would not meet the standards that players and fans have come to expect."
Blizzard (Source)
We’re constantly changing and evolving not only our games, but how we support and grow them. This evolution is vital to our ability to continue doing what we love to do—making great games—and it’s what makes Blizzard, Blizzard.
Over the past several years, the work of evaluating our development processes and making hard decisions has led to new games and other products that we’re proud of. We now have more live games and unannounced projects than at any point in the company’s history. We’re also at a point where we need to take some of our talented developers and bring their skills to other projects. As a result, we’ve made the difficult decision to shift some developers from Heroes of the Storm to other teams, and we’re excited to see the passion, knowledge, and experience that they’ll bring to those projects. This isn’t the first time we’ve had to make tough choices like this. Games like Diablo II, World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Overwatch, and more would not exist had we not made similar decisions in the past.
Despite the change, Heroes of the Storm remains our love letter to Blizzard’s worlds and characters. We’ll continue actively supporting the game with new heroes, themed events, and other content that our community loves, though the cadence will change. Ultimately, we’re setting up the game for long-term sustainability. We’re so grateful for the support the community has shown from the beginning, and the development team will continue to support Heroes with the same passion, dedication, and creativity that has made the game such a unique experience.
We’ve also evaluated our plans around Heroes esports—after looking at all of our priorities and options in light of the change with the game, the Heroes Global Championship and Heroes of the Dorm will not return in 2019. This was another very difficult decision for us to make. The love that the community has for these programs is deeply felt by everyone who works on them, but we ultimately feel this is the right decision versus moving forward in a way that would not meet the standards that players and fans have come to expect.
While we don’t make these decisions lightly, we do look to the future excited about what the decisions will mean for our other live games and all the projects we have in the works. We appreciate all of our hard-working developers and everyone in the Blizzard community, and look forward to sharing many more epic gaming experiences with you in the future.
J. Allen Brack and Ray Gresko
Here's also a post from the Heroes Esports team thanking the community for supporting HGC.
Blizzard (Source)
As you might have seen by now, the Heroes Global Championship will not return in 2019.
It has been an incredible journey for the HGC, and we are eternally grateful to everyone who has touched the program. This was a tough decision for all of us, but one we agree is the right decision in light of the change with the game and our desire to only deliver the best competitive experiences with all of our esports programs.
The HGC has been proud to claim some of the most skilled players, entertaining casters, hard-working crew, professional teams, and dedicated staff in the business, and we can’t wait to see what this explosion of talent into the wider esports ecosystem will produce.
To the HGC supporters, thank you. Thank you for every piece of feedback you provided, HGC Cheer you cheered, and—most of all—every ounce of your passion. We felt it every day, back at the office and alongside you at each and every live event. The HGC could not have happened without all of your support.
Sincerely,
The Heroes Esports Team
J. Allen Brack and Ray Gresko announced there will be no HGC or Heroes of the Dorm in 2019.

A new hotfix patch went live with fixes for talents and abilities that failed to restore Mana and a Volskaya Foundry Support camp bug.
Blizzard (Source)
We’ve recently released a Heroes of the Storm patch in order to address a few live bugs. Read on for details.
Bug Fixes
General
Fixed a number of issues causing some Mana-refund talents and abilities to fail to restore Mana.
Battlegrounds
Fixed an issue causing the Volskaya Foundry Support camp to lose Unstoppable after the Battleground objective spawned.